Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Did you miss me?

I have missed baking, taking photos, and conversing with the people who read this blog. So where have I been?

First I was busy with finals and the end of the school semester. Then I got a job (woo-hoo!) at a coffee-shop (another woo-hoo). Finally I’ve been consuming my time with something I enjoy just as much food: being outdoors! Couple that with exercising and that is what I’ve been spending a lot of my time doing. Regarding exercising, first it was walks, then it was jogging, and recently I’ve even been running (in short sprints, for under a minute). I’m still building my stamina and my lung capacity for the rigors of running but it is definitely worth it. Along with doing Pilates and dabbling with some Tai Chi, I’ve been biking and last week I biked 16 miles! Something that has kept me motivated is the Million Minute Challenge over at SocialWorkout. Every month or so SocialWorkout does challenges, the most recent being the Million Minute Challenge, the purpose being trying to log one million workout minutes with the help of its members. So far there are over 400,000 minutes logged and I have contributed 805 of those minutes. If you’re interested you should definitely sign up. The more people who join and log their exercise minutes, the closer the goal can be reached!

Zucchini bread sounds strange to me. You would think it would be gross and like the equivalent of a fruit cake zucchini bread is essentially a vegetable bread. But contrary to any doubters, zucchini bread is far more delicious than a fruit cake. And I will prove that with this recipe.

When I last went to the grocery store I bought one zucchini to cut and cube in chili. Looking back I don’t know why that sounded like a good idea and as of now zucchini and chili do not sound like a good thing. But I can still be swayed. So lest the zucchini spoil I decided to make a zucchini bread, which I had eaten before but never made. I wanted another dimension to the bread so I decided to add cocoa powder. And – okay, here is the unconventional part but try to stay with me – I wanted to add avocado. Instead of using the typical fatteners for baking such as butter or oil, another option is avocado which is full healthy fats (the mono-saturated kinds, I believe). The baking stars had just aligned because I had one avocado left that had just ripened. I substituted the recipe’s fat ingredient (which was canola oil) for one avocado and the results? Perfect-o. Honestly, everything turned out pretty damn good. There is no avocado-y taste as some people would think and the bread is really moist, almost melt in your mouth kind of texture. The zucchini bread is sweet with touch of chocolate and is good to nibble on. Or to eat the entire loaf in one sitting. Just kidding about the last one, I don’t eat entire loaves of bread in one sitting, that’s asking for aches and constipation. Onto the recipe, shall we?

I adapted the recipe from Joy of Baking. I substituted canola oil for one avocado and I only had one zucchini so I halved the recipe. I also did not have allspice.

Is my version of Chocolate Zucchini Bread a winner? I would say so. But hey, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, so make it yourself and let me know what you think.